Sanitary closure for telephone-mouthpieces.



01 n. w. INMAN. SANITARY CLOSURE FDR TELEWIONE MOUTH?! ECES.

APPLIC'ATOH FILED HAY 3, 191? Patentei'i Nov. 19, i918.

ORION n. W. INIVLAN, or tarpon, WISCONSIN.

SANITARY ctosunr: res rnLErnonn-Moririirinons.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 19, 1918.

Application filed May 3, 1917. Serial No, 166,115.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ORION D. W. 'INMAN, a citizen of the United States, residing at 849 10th St, Beloit, in the county of Rock and State of Wisconsin, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Sanita ry Closures for Telephone-Mouthpieces; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to a sanitary closure for use in connection with telephone mouth pieces.

The principal object of the invention is to provide a closure of the above stated character which is adapted to be detachablyand hingedly connected to the mouth piece of the telephone and which may be readily and quickly swung into or out of engagement with the mouth piece to either open or close the open end thereof.

A further object of the invention is to provide a sanitary closure detachably connected to the mouth piece and embodying a cap adapted to close the open end of the mouth piece and which has arranged upon ita demountable cup for the reception of a disinfectant which when the cup is positioned Within the mouth piece will escape through the perforations of the cup and serve to effectively disinfect and fumigate the interior of the mouth piece.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a sanitary closure for a telephone mouth piece which when arranged in closed position will exclude dust, germs and other foreign matter from the interior of the mouth piece.

With these and other objects in view as will appear as the description proceeds the invention comprises the various novel features of construction, combination and arrangement of parts as will be more fully described hereinafter and set forth with particularity in the appended claim.

Referring to the drawings,

Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of the upper end portion of a telephone showing my improved sanitary closure arranged in position upon the telephone mouth piece.

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the sanltary closure detached from the mouth piece.

Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the closure cap and the disinfectant cup detached from one another, and

Fig. 4: is a fragmentary vertical sectional view of the device showing another form of spring catch for holding the disinfectant cup inengagement with the closure cap.

Similar characters of reference are used to denote like parts throughout the accompanying drawings and the following specification.

Referring more particularly to the drawings the reference numeral 1 indicates the closure cap of my improved sanitary closure and. is of a diameter sufficiently large to completely cover the open end of the telephone mouth piece 2. This closure cap 1 has hingedly connected to it, as at 3, a spring clasp 4, the arms of which are adapted to embrace the outer end of the mouth piece, and it is to be understood that the tension of the arms of this'spring clip 4 is sufficient to frictionally hold the clip in position upon the mouth piece. It is to be understood that I do not propose to limit myself to the exact construction of the spring hinge clip 4 but that I mayus'e any other construction of hinge'clip that will serve the same purpose as the present one. In the present instance the hinge clip 4 is pivotally supported upon a staple 5, the ends of which are embedded within the peripheral edge of the closure cap.

The inner surface of the closure cap is covered with a piece of felt or other suit able material 6 which serves to form a hermetical seal between the closure cap and the end of the mouth piece when the spring catch 7 carried by the closure cap is engaged over the outer edge of the mouth piece, this spring clip serving to normally maintain the device in closed position.

The closure cap 1 has detachably connected to it and arranged centrally thereof a disinfectant cup 8 which is provided with a plurality of perforations 9. The outer surface of the disinfectant cup 8 is recessed at diametrically opposite points as indicated by the numeral 10, each of these recesses 10 converging inwardly of the cup and are adapted to receive the laterally projecting spring arms 11 of a metal bar 12 attached to the inner surface of the closure cap 1 and positioned beneath the felt covering 6, said covering being provided with suitable openings through whichv the arms 11 project. By virtue of the recesses 10 converging inwardly of the cup, the spring arms 11 will grip the cup in such a manner as to prevent accidental disengagement of it from the closure cap. In some instances it may be desirable to corrugate the bottom of the recesses 10 'as indicated by the numeral 10 in Fig. 4, and also corrugate the spring arms as indicated by the numeral 11 which when arranged in engagement with the corrugated recesses 10 will prevent casual displacement of the cup from the closure cap.

A suitable disinfectant is adapted to be positioned within the cup 8, the fumes of which will escape through the perforations 9 and serve to thoroughly and completely disinfect and fumigate the interior of the mouth piece when the closure is arranged in closed position as shown in Fig. 1. I propose to preferably use a dry or powdered disinfectant Within the cup 8, but I desire to have it understood that suitable absorbent material may be positioned within the cup and saturated with a disinfectant liquid which will serve thesame purpose as the dry or powdered disinfectant.

- From the foregoing description it will be apparent that I have produced a closure for a telephone mouth piece which is sanitary and antiseptic and which can be quickly and readily attached and detached from any telephone mouth piece of standard construction and which'can be quickly swung either Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the into or out of engagement with the open end of the telephone mouth piece.

While I have shown in the drawings and description of the specification the preferred embodiment of the invention, I desire to have it understood that such changes in construction and arrangement of parts may be made when desired as are within the scope of the appended claim.

I claim,

The combination with a standard telephone mouth piece, of a sanitary comprising a closure cap, means carried by the closure cap for hingedly and detachably connecting said closure cap to the open end of said mouth piece, a felt covering arranged over the inner surface of said closure cap, spring arms carried by the inner face of said closure cap, "a perforated cup detachably and frictionally held between said spring arms and adapted to project within said mouth piece, said cup adapted to contain a disinfectant, and a spring catch carried by the closure cap and adapted to engage over the end of the mouth piece to draw said felt covering into engagement with the open end of said mouth piece to form a seal between the mouth piece and the closure cap.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

ORION D. W. INMAN. Witnesses:

C. L. INMAN, CHESTER H. CHRISTENSEN.

Commissioner 0! ratentl,

Washington, D. 0."

closure 

